Alessandro
Stradella is one of the very few composers of the Italian 17th
century who has never fallen into oblivion. There were no musical
reasons for this. It was rather his adventurous life, full of
adultery and affairs with women and, most of all, his violent
death which stirred the imagination. Stradella became the subject
of a number of operas, of which the one by Friedrich von Flotow
is the most famous.
Being
born in 1639 in Nepi in the province of Viterbo, Stradella started
work as a musician and composer in Rome, where his family had
settled. Among his patrons were some of the best-known aristocratic
families in the capital. They included the Swedish Queen Christina,
who had moved to Rome after converting to Catholicism and whose
court became a centre of arts and music. His secondary job of
matchmaking brought him into trouble, forcing him to take refuge
in Venice. Here an illicit relationship caused him to be attacked
and he fled to Genoa. It was another affair which cost him his
life. He was stabbed to death by hired assassins, but their
identity remained a mystery. After his death Stradella was called
'un Orfeo assassinato' - a murdered Orfeo. This is perhaps evidence
of his reputation not only as a composer but also as a singer
- he seems to have had a very fine tenor voice.
Stradella
composed around three hundred works in almost every genre: operas,
serenades, oratorios, cantatas, songs, madrigals and instrumental
works. Among the most famous are his oratorio San Giovanni
Battista, whose first modern performance took place in 1949
with Maria Callas in one of the main roles. Another oratorio,
La Susanna, has also received several performances and
has been recorded a couple of times. But Stradella's secular
vocal works have not fared well, and most of them are still
to be rediscovered. This disc is a good step in this process.
The two compositions recorded here are different in size and
character, but share some of the features of Stradella's style.
One
of these features is the treatment of the orchestra. Stradella
must have been one of the first to apply the principle of splitting
the instrumental ensemble into a 'concertino' and a 'concerto
grosso'. It is proven that Arcangelo Corelli took part in the
first performance of 'San Giovanni Battista', where this practice
is also used. It must have influenced his development of the
'concerto grosso' as an independent musical form. As in Corelli's
Concerti grossi, the 'concertino' in the compositions on this
disc consists of two violins and cello. The 'concerto grosso'
contains the usual body of strings. In this performance the
basso continuo section includes a 'Spanish guitar', which is
used to great effect. In some sections the violins are split
into four different parts, which demonstrates Stradella’s originality
in his use of instruments. But it is all at the service of expression,
which is one of the strengths of his writing. This also explains
the dissonances and sudden modulations in some instrumental
sections in the works recorded here.
The
first work is called an 'Accademia d'Amore'. It is an academic
discourse about love, in which eight characters are involved:
Bellezza (Beauty), Cortesia (Courtesy), Capriccio (Fancy), Amore
(Love), Rigore (Discipline), Disinganno (Disenchantment) and
two Accademiche (Academicians). The work consists of a sequence
of recitatives and arias and a couple of duets. The recitatives
are sometimes strongly declamatory, but often shift towards
lyricism. Most arias are rather short, but there is one long
aria in which Bellezza underlines her argument that beauty is
the main aspect of love: "The beauty of a lovely face is
paradise for every heart". Like some other arias it is
in two stanzas, which are followed by a ritornello. It is very
expressive and serious in character. At the other end of the
spectrum is the aria of Disinganno, 'Si guardo', which he himself
in the preceding recitative describes as 'uno scherzo musicale'
- "a light-hearted ditty". Just as the argument threatens
to get out of hand, Amore proposes to bid farewell by joining
in a madrigal. It is for five voices which are remarkably accompanied
by basso continuo only.
The
second piece is much shorter and is assumed to have been composed
towards the end of Stradella's life. In this work he makes use
of the da capo structure, which is absent in the first work.
There the musical material is sometimes repeated, but always
to a different text. The subject of this short cantata is the
same: the influence of love on the human spirit. Here there
are no characters, just three voices: two sopranos and a bass.
The second soprano and the bass only sing duets, the arias are
all for the first soprano. Here again we find a lengthy aria:
'Chi del bendato arcier'. On the whole the arias are more virtuosic
than in the 'Accademia d'Amore'.
This
disc is an important contribution to the exploration of the
oeuvre of Alessandro Stradella and it shows his great qualities.
The performances leave something to be desired. The instrumental
ensemble play very well, both in the 'concertino' and in the
'concerto grosso'. The basso continuo section gives excellent
support to the singers. Most of them do a fine job, in particular
the sopranos Rosita Frisani and Cristiana Presutti. Some others,
especially Gianluca Belfiori Doro and Riccardo Ristori, use
too much vibrato, which obstructs a satisfying blend with the
other voices. That is particularly the case in the 'madrigals'
which open and conclude the 'Accademia d'Amore'. It can also
be heard in the duets of soprano II and the bass in the cantata.
It may not bother some, but for me it takes something away from
my enjoyment of this recording.
Despite
these remarks I recommend this disc because of the quality of
the music and the overall level of performance. The booklet contains
all lyrics with an English translation and an extensive description
of all sections of these two works.
Johan van Veen
